Friday, November 30, 2007

To coincide with the release of The Darkness #1, Top Cow is pleased to announce a series of exciting signings with creators Phil Hester (Green Arrow, Superman Confidential) and Michael Broussard (Unholy Union). The creators will be signing at several locations in California and the Midwest to commemorate the release of The Darkness #1 on December 12th.

The Darkness #1 marks the return of one of Top Cow's flagship characters to his own ongoing series and major changes in the status quo of the character. Jackie Estacado, the eponymous lead character, has fled the United States following the events of First Born and has set himself up as kingpin in Sierra Muñoz. The story promises to deliver unexpected twists and turns for die hard and new fans alike. To coincide with the release of the first issue, Top Cow has released a brand new trailer on YouTube by Fith Studios http://www.fithstudios.com/ which can be viewed at: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wJ0IRMu_Rjc

Additionally, Top Cow has launched a new The Darkness mini-site which includes previews, downloads, and all the latest news about The Darkness. The mini-site can be found at http://topcow.com/darkness

The Darkness signing tour will take place at the following fine comic stores:

Fans coming to the signings will receive free promotional material for The Darkness including copies of The Darkness: First Look while supplies last. Additionally Krypton Comics (shared with Spud's Emporium of Comics & Games) will have an exclusive limited edition foil variant cover of The Darkness #1 by Phil Hester.

The Darkness #1 is available in three regular covers which each carry an SRP of $2.99.

Thursday, November 29, 2007

First Born #3 (of 3) Review by Chris PartinI've stated a few times in the past that I have this secret love for Top Cow comics. I have always enjoyed them ever since the very first issue of Cyberforce. There has just been something about the stories and the characters and the artwork that has drawn me to them and kept me on board as a reader and most importantly a fan. Having been a long time reader and fan I will admit there have been some down times. CLICK HERE

Following in the wake of the hugely successful The Darkness video game and the summer's smash hit, First Born, The Darkness returns in a brand new ongoing series by Phil Hester (Deep Sleeper, Green Arrow) and Michael Broussard (Unholy Union)! Irrevocably changed by the events of First Born, Jackie Estacado has relocated to the secluded nation of Sierra Muñoz. But every paradise has dark secrets under the surface. And what does the mysterious Professor Kirchner stand to gain by allying himself with Jackie?

Top Cow and ZCult FM have agreed to have all torrents of Top Cow comics removed from ZCult FM's website and trackers. ZCult FM has been incredibly professional and cordial in working with us to protect our copyrighted material. Top Cow sells our comics and graphic novels in comic shops, major book retailers, and online, but we also offer digital downloads of our material legally through Direct2Drive.com. We also have a variety of first issues available to read on our website (www.topcow.com) and we're providing ZCult FM with a number of special preview issues of Madame Mirage, The Darkness, Wanted, Tomb Raider, and Witchblade to share with you. We really appreciate how easy Serj and ZCult FM have been to work with and hope you guys will check out our digital download offerings. CLICK HERE

Wednesday, November 28, 2007

Takeru learns of her origin as she fights to save Kuo & his family from the demon Gakura! Originally serialized in Japan's popular magazine, Champion Red and written by Witchblade Anime head writer Yasuko Kobayashi.And now every issue of Witchblade Takeru Manga is over-sized with 38 pages of story and art leading up to the stunning conclusion in issue #12!

Cyblade: Pilot SeasonI' know I get to help vote for which two series get picked to be on going, but I sure don't want to have to. I'm enjoying them all. Cyblade is acool setup with wonderful art from Rick Mays. Joshua Hale Fialkov has set this opener up like a mystery action film. It moves fast and keeps you guessing. CLICK HERE

Top Cow Productions has provided CBR News with an advance look at "The Darkness" #1, the anticipated re-launch of one the publisher's most popular titles. Included here is an exclusive first look at writer Phil Hester's variant cover. The book is set to hit shelves December 12. CLICK HERE

Top Cow has provided Newsarama with an eight page preview of Darkness #1 by Phil Hester and Michael Broussard. The issue, which relaunches the character into his own series and follows the storyline from First Born, is due in stores on December 12th. CLICK HERE

Top Cow's Pilot Season initiative consists of five one-shots pairing top comics industry creators with beloved but under-utilized Top Cow characters. When all is said and done, fans will have the opportunity to vote on which character(s) they'd like to see get their own ongoing series. For the latest part of our Pilot Season coverage, CBR News caught up with writer Ian Edginton to talk about "Angelus: Pilot Season" #1. CLICK HERE

Pavmire, a great electronica group on MySpace, created some music inspire by The Darkness and shared it with us. We thought we'd share it with the rest of the Herd.

Here's what Pavmire wrote us regarding their inspiration:

Hello Top Cow Fans,

This is Pavmire. We're an electronic industrial group that is highly influenced by Depeche Mode, Sci-fi films, and graphic novels/comic books.

One of my favorite comic book stories that has inspired me to write our dark-down-tempo music is "The Darkness". Why? Well, I, Dehn of Pavmire, completely identify with the main charicter, Jackie. We are both dark in physical features and persona. We're both ladies men, but most importantly, I have a bit of a dark side to myself that comes out in my instrumentation and lyrics. I guess you could call them my own "darklings". Many of my close friends often ask where this dark sound comes from, because they never see it until they hear our music. My answer, "ask Jackie." Anyone who's read "The Darkness" can see and hear the likness in our music. Just pick up an issue of "The Darkness and listen to the tracks on our myspace page, and you'll see what i mean.

Saturday, November 24, 2007

Created by acclaimed developer Digital Extremes, Dark Sector is a new and original action-thriller video game designed exclusively for next generation systems. Enter the world of Hayden Tenno, a black ops agent sent on a dangerous assassination mission into Lasria, an Eastern European city that hides a deadly Cold War secret. Attacked by an unknown enemy, he awakens to find part of his body altered by an infection that has granted him inhuman abilities. CLICK HERE

Friday, November 23, 2007

Eric M. Maruscak, a talented chalk artist, created a cool mural version of Marc Silvestri's black and white sketch cover of X-Men: Messiah CompleX created for the WizardWorld Texas VIP edition.CLICK HERE to see a step by step progression.

Thursday, November 22, 2007

Created by Digital Extremes, Dark Sector is a new and original action-thriller videogame. Enter the world of Hayden Tenno, a black ops agent sent on a mission into Lasria, an Eastern European city that hides a deadly secret. Attacked by an unknown enemy, he awakens infected but granted with inhuman abilities. Now, Hayden must learn to evolve, survive and become a hero.Written by acclaimed creator David Wohl (Witchblade, Aphrodite IX) and illustrated by living legend Bill Sienkiewicz (Elektra: Assassin, Moon Knight), this special prequel provides an unseen look into the hit game.Visit DarkSector.com for more information!

First Born culminates as the battle between the forces of Light and Dark reaches a fever pitch. And in the final issue of this summer’s hottest event – the birth of Sara Pezzini’s child! Writer Ron Marz (Ion, Samurai: Heaven & Earth) and digital painter Stjepan Sejic (The Darkness: Level 1, Witchblade) deliver the ultimate conclusion and set up events for the next thrilling year to come including The Darkness ongoing series.First Born #3 features two covers by series artist Stjepan Sejic.

Award-winning writer Paul Dini (DC's Countdown, Lost) and hot new talent Kenneth Rocafort (Hunter-Killer) answer the question - "Who is Madame Mirage?"A locked room, two deadly adversaries, and one loaded gun between them. Madame Mirage finds herself in a life or death duel with ASI's most skilled assassin, and the only way out is for one to kill the other. While the fatal drama unfolds, shocking secrets are revealed about our heroine's past, radically changing the direction of the series and everything you think you know about the mysterious Mirage.

Now available in a extremely limited edition by Michael Broussard (The Darkness). This edition is limited to 1000 copies.A tie-in to the epic First Born summer event! Rookie Witchblade bearer Dani Baptiste is unprepared as servants of the Angelus are closing in on her. But there's no reason not to trust the good guys, right? This issue will provide fans with a fuller reading experience and lead directly into next month's First Born #2!Long time scribe Ron Marz (Ion, Samurai: Heaven & Earth) is joined in the second of three very special First Born tie-in issues by the unstoppable art team of Luke Ross (Samurai: Heaven & Earth), Kevin Nowlan (Batman: Black & White, Superman v. Aliens) and cover artist Mike Mayhew (Vampirella, The Pulse).

First Born culminates as the battle between the forces of Light and Dark reaches a fever pitch. And in the final issue of this summer's hottest event - the birth of Sara Pezzini's child! Writer Ron Marz (Ion, Samurai: Heaven & Earth) and digital painter Stjepan Sejic (The Darkness: Level 1, Witchblade) deliver the ultimate conclusion and set up events for the next thrilling year to come including The Darkness ongoing series. CLICK HERE

Wednesday, November 21, 2007

The Darkness scores in at #2 on ripten.com "Top Ten Most Badass Weapons in Gaming History".

Our next, slightly controversial entry on this list has led me to question what exactly constitutes a weapon. The Darkness, the evil entity that spawns from our anti-hero Jackie Estacado in the game of the same name, is a living, breathing thing. It’s biological, despite its supernatural origins. It has a voice and a full range of emotions (anger, malice, rage). CLICK HERE

The best way to walk off your Thanksgiving turkey is to amble on over to Hero Initiative booth at the Mid-Ohio Comic-Con Thanksgiving weekend, November 24 and 25 at Battelle hall at the Columbus Convention Center in Columbus, OH.CLICK HERE

Yet another item for the "not a video game, but it should be" category.

I have been stoked for this movie ever since Bret Harrison from the CW's "Reaper" (super funny show, check it out) told me about it and suggested that I read the comic, which I am in the process of doing. Good news if you've been hunting around for the graphic novel and were disillusioned because the comics stores told you it's out of print and they don't know when they'll get more (ahem, Forbidden Planet): Top Cow has reprinted it and it should be available everywhere now. CLICK HERE

Earlier this year, in June I think, I was contacted by Rob Levin of Top Cow Productions who asked if I’d be interested in redesigning the Witchblade logo for them. I said I’d be happy to give it a try, though I confessed I’d never read an issue. Rob sent me some samples, and said they wanted to have it be more readable, but not drastically different from the existing logo, which he thought was designed by Peter Steigerwald when the title was created. Rob also sent me digital logo files of the three versions that had been done so far. CLICK HERE

The advent of new and affordable graphic design technologies has in the last 15 years or so ignited an enormous interest in comic book lettering and production, evidence of which can be seen in this century's ceaseless flood of high quality indie titles, and more especially in the incalculable number of Webcomics. However, there is one specific aspect of comic book-making that remains decidedly overlooked by comics readership (and press) (and perhaps every medium's readership/viewership and press), and it is one of the Comic Book's most crucial and omnipresent components: logo design. CLICK HERE

Tuesday, November 20, 2007

"The battle between Number Nine and Ripclaw was especially nice as we skipped over the fighting to the bloody end. In the same way that the shower scene in Psycho works better by not showing the attack, so does the Number Nine fight."

Three months. Jonboy Meyers, his life at a crossroads and his bank account nearly empty, gave himself three months to land a job drawing comic books. If he didn’t succeed, he would abandon his dream and settle into a steady, secure and likely humdrum job. Three months. It took less than one. CLICK HERE

Some of the biggest news of the weekend at Wizard World Texas came straight from the mouth of Phil Hester on Saturday, and Top Cow Entertainment included a bundle of accompanying announcements at its panel in Arlington. CLICK HERE

I do not follow Top Cow. I’ve had a couple occasional books from the imprint/production company, but with how involved I already am with the big two, and the far off the beaten path indies, the guys in the middle are often forgotten. I know tiny bits and pieces about this universe they’ve crafted, but this is the first real taste I’ve gotten. CLICK HERE

The next panel I attended was Top Cow’s. Marvel is nowhere to be seen at WWTX and while DC has sent DiDio and a few others, they do not have much of a presence at the show. Top Cow is really the one that showed up. And it showed in the audience’s robust applause in appreciation for Top Cow’s turnout. CLICK HERE

This series manages to deliver. (Sorry about that). We do get to see Baby Pezzini. I'll admit I wondered how this would end. Would Top Cow actually give Sara a baby. Do they really want to go in that direction? CLICK HERE

ARLINGTON, Texas -- Top Cow announced a First Born Aftermath one-shot for March and its second Pilot Season plans at its Wizard World Texas panel on Saturday.

The oversized Aftermath book will include two 11-page stories, one by Ron Marz and Ryan Sook and the other by Phil Hester and an artist to be announced. Marz is writing a bridging story, with art by Witchblade artist Stjepan Sejic.

"It will introduce a major new villain for Jackie," Hester said.

The second Pilot Season will take place in May/June. The twist this time is all the books will be original concepts. Top Cow's Matt Hawkins said deals have already been made with talent, with announcements coming.

* Hester on writing The Darkness: "It's pretty daunting, but also exciting and rewarding to be trusted with a character that has been as long as The Darkness."

* Broussard said he's been a fan of The Darkness for a long time and is excited to be on board for his first ongoing. Hester likened it to playing center field for the Yankees as a rookie.

* Hawkins noted 2007 marks Top Cow's 16th year.

* Hawkins said there will be a sequel to The Darkness video game -- "sooner than later." The first game, which was banned in Singapore, sold out its original shipment in a week. Hawkins said there will be a Platinum edition.

Jackie Estacado and The Darkness enter a whole new world with their first short form prose novel! In this inaugural foray into the world of written fiction, readers will get a taste of Jackie’s life within the mob and delve deeper than ever before into the horror and thrill of being the bearer of The Darkness.Written by novelist Kerri Hawkins (Blood Legacy) this first novel will offer up a perfect mixture of crime fiction and horror in a brutal, gritty tone.

The smash limited series by Mark Millar (Civil War), JG Jones (Final Crisis), Paul Mounts (The Ultimates) is back in print with a brand new painted cover! Everyman Wesley Gibson just discovered that his father is dead and that he is in line to take his place in a secret fraternity of super villains. And Wesley’s life will never be the same!Soon to be a major motion picture starring Angelina Jolie, James McAvoy, and Morgan Freeman directed by Timur Bekmambetov (Night Watch)!

Continuing the First Born Storyline, Sara Pezzini, the former host of the Witchblade is pregnant and her unborn child is the focus of the war between the Darkness and the Angelus. Sara will learn who the father of her child is in a startling revelation. CLICK HERE

Right now, when you purchase Game of the Year contender BioShock, you can get a copy of The Darkness free in-the-box with your purchase. Add both items to your cart and the savings on The Darkness will be deducted at checkout. Offer good while quantities last. Both games must be sold and shipped by Amazon.com to qualify. CLICK HERE

Don't let the promo art fool you. Witchblade is more than just a show about a scantily clad babe ripping enemies to shreds with her sharp weaponry. Yes, it does include that, but the appeal of the show also comes from the human drama of Masane and her daughter, Rihoko, trying to make it in near future Japan, especially since Masane chooses to keep her Witchblade persona hidden from her daughter. It's difficult to say whether those just looking for fights will feel short-changed. But hey, there are some good fights in here, and you might as well watch it for the character moments while you're here. CLICK HERE

Top Cow's universe changing "First Born" mini-series by Ron Marz & Stjepan Sejic is coming to an end later this month and sets the stage for major events in the Top Cow U. To help prepare you for the changes to come, CBR News is happy to offer a first-look preview of "First Born" #3, shipping to comic shops November 28th, 2007. CLICK HERE